Friday, October 19, 2018
My Hallway Revisited post from last week resulted in a number of people commenting on the T6-M scholar that I worked with out in the hallway. For all of the positive comment about the time I spent with this scholar I say, "thank you." I also received an additional comment and all it said was, "thanks for the positivity." When I saw that comment I smiled and responded that the next blog post would be equally positive unless you do something weird in the classroom. As of right now I'm not aware of any weirdness coming from the classroom so I'm going to proceed with some more positivity.
T4 has been working on area and perimeter for a number of days now. In doing so I've heard a few times, "Schultz I need copies made of these worksheets. When you make these copies I need sixty of each. I need these two one page worksheets turned into a one page, two sided, worksheet. Then I need copies of the exit ticket, sixty copies of each. You got that?" I snapped to attention, saluted, and said, "yes Drill Sergeant," and off to the copier I go.
For this lesson on area and perimeter no worksheets were needed because the scholars will be designing their dream house. All that is required is a pencil, ruler, and graph paper. Prior to starting the dream house project T4 got my attention and said to me, "Schultz, the LittleBigB#2 will be doing an observation of me today." As soon as I heard that the LittleBigBig#2 was going to be in the classroom I knew immediately what my role would be, crowd control.
With the LittleBigB#2 seated and his laptop open, T4 began the lesson. The first task was to draw a large rectangle on the graph paper. T4 had one drawn in advance and placed it under the document camera that projected a picture of the graph paper up on the big overhead screen in the front of the classroom. The scholars were told that they could put as many rooms as they wanted into their dream house but they had to stay inside the rectangle. The last instruction, before the scholars were turned loose, was that for every room they drew in the rectangle they had to calculate the area and perimeter of the room.
Once T4 finished with all directions on building a dream house the scholars began. "Mr. Schultz, I don't know what to do." "You need to draw a rectangle on your graph paper, there is an example on the screen in the front of the classroom." "Mr. Schultz, I can't draw a straight line." "Are you using your ruler?" "Yes Mr. Schultz but I still can't make a straight line." "Okay, erase the line you drew and I'll come over and help you." "Mr. Schultz, I don't know what kind of room to draw." "Every house has these two very important rooms, what do you think they are?" There is a moment of silence as the scholar is thinking and then I hear, "bedroom." "Perfect," I say, "now what is the other one and I'll give you a hint, you will use it everyday." A bit more silence and then I hear, "kitchen." "Very good, now draw a bedroom and a kitchen and don't forget to calculate the area and perimeter." "How do you calculate the area and perimeter, Mr. Schultz?" "Lord, give me the strength to stay calm." "Mr. Schultz, can I draw an X-box in my dream house?" "No, an X-box is not a room. If you want an X-box in your dream house what room would you put it in?" "A game room Mr. Schultz." "Well then you need to draw a game room in your house." Mr. Schultz, can I draw a room in my dream house for my dog?" There is now a slight hesitation on my part, "sure your dog can have its own room."
Eventually the questions slowed and I had an opportunity to look around the room and I liked what I saw, the scholars were engaged and having fun with the project. There were still a lot of questions, especially about figuring out the area and perimeter but, with the LittleBigB#2 observing, this was the perfect project to do. I think the LittleBigB#2 spent about thirty minutes observing T4. When he left the room I made eye contact with T4, nodded my head, smiled, and we went back to work.
Observations like this make teachers nervous. In this case I'm sure T4 was particularly nervous as the LittleBigB#2 is new to the school and she had no idea what to expect. She may not have known what to expect but this is what I know for sure. The LittleBigB#2 just observed and excellent math teacher, one that I enjoy working with, will continue to work with, and I will do everything I can do to remove obstacles so she can be successful. If the LittleBigB#2 disagrees with me about my observations then we may have to have an animated conversation so I can convince him that he is wrong. How can I convince him? Simple, he observed T4 for about thirty minutes. I've been observing T4 every day for nine weeks.
On to some multiplication. T4 is on day number nine with multiplication. On each new day T4 hands out three strips of paper, 1 1/2" x 4" in size, with a multiplication problem written on it. With this being day nine, the scholars have twenty-seven multiplication problems in front of them. Daily, T4 blocks out a section of time so that the scholars can practice their multiplication. One this particular day I'm working with OtherT4-F who is really struggling with multiplication. When I sat next to OtherT4-F I pointed to one of the easy multiplication problems and said to her, what is 5 x 5? The response I got was no where near the correct answer so I repeated the problem and told her to count by five using her fingers. OtherT4-F started counting and when she passed her fifth finger she just kept on counting by five. I stopped her when she reached thirty-five and said, "you are way to high, lets try it again." OtherT4-F starts again, her hand is up, and she starts counting my five. When she didn't stop at twenty-five I remained silent and just observed. When OtherT4-F reached seventy-five I stopped her and said, "5 x 5 equals twenty-five."
Later that evening while sitting at the kitchen table eating my evening meal I told my part time editor, part time consultant, and full time spouse about my time with OtherT4-F. Her initial reaction was to say, "you're kidding." After a brief pause she offered me this suggestion. "The next time you are working with this scholar hold up your hand and ask her how many fingers are on your hand. If she has to count them individually then you will know that you have your work cut out for you."
Saturday, October 20 , 2018, happy birthday little sister. Also a happy birthday to my Florida friend and my Bay City friend.
One more multiplication story and then I'll call it a day. T4-F, one of my hallway friends, had all of her twenty-seven multiplication problems stacked up neatly in front of her so I thought I'd put her to the test. When I arrived at her desk I asked her to pick up all of her multiplication problems and join me at the hexagon. When she sat down at the hexagon I pulled out my cellphone and found my stop watch. "Mr. Schultz, are you going to see how long it takes me to answers all of the problems?" "No," I responded, "I'm going to see how fast you can answer them." T4-F's facial expression told me all I needed to know, the game was on. Stop watch set to zero, twenty-seven multiplication problems stacked in front on me, "three, two, one, go." It took T4-F fifty-three seconds to correctly answer all twenty-seven multiplication problems.
One stop watch challenge down, one to go, and I knew exactly who I was looking for. "T4-F, pick up all of your multiplication problems and join me at the hexagon." When I finished going over the rules of the game I got the same facial expression that I got earlier, the game was on. Stop watch set to zero, twenty-seven multiplication problems stacked in front of me and then the disruption arrived. My first competitor sat down at the hexagon and that made me hesitate. My concern, this was to be fun and not a competition between scholars as that could lead to unnecessary drama. I told my first competitor that she could stay at the hexagon but she had to remain silent and that if she knew she couldn't then she needed to step away. The first competitor promised to be quiet so I let her stay.
"T4-F are you ready?" "Yes Mr. Schultz," "Three, two, one, go." All twenty-seven multiplication problems were answered correctly. The elapsed time with fifty-eight seconds. Then the potential for drama started. The first T4-F said, "I did it in fifty-three seconds." The first T4-F's comment was addressed quickly, "you promised me that you would be silent. Now, if you can't be silent step away from the hexagon." I'm now speaking to the second T4-F. "You had an excellent time but you know what, I know you can do it faster. When I was going through the multiplication problems some of the problems were upside down and I had to turn them over. That slowed you down. We'll do this again another day and I know you will go faster."
Over six years ago I was at a professional development day and an overhead person with a Ph.D was one of the speakers. During her presentation this Ph.D said something that has stayed with me now for six years, "when you work with your scholars remember to glaze over strengths and glance at weaknesses." After the timer challenge ended I remained at the hexagon with these two scholars and believe me I was glazing over their strengths. "Do you two know how proud of you I am? There are sixty scholars in the fourth grade and I'm certain that only you two could do what you just did. This is a huge accomplishment. When you get home tonight be sure to tell your parental units how well you did with multiplication today as I'm certain that they will be as proud of you as I am."
There you go, positivity as promised. Although that multiplication exercise with OtherT4-F was a little weird. Tomorrow is the last day of my two weeks long fall break. I'll be back in the classroom on Monday morning at around 9:45am and we'll see what the week will bring. Thanks for following along.
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